Serbian commander Ratko Mladic, one of the main responsible for the Srebrenica Genocide in which Bosnian Muslims were massacred, died in the prison in The Hague, Netherlands. Serbia is preparing a state ceremony for the Serbian commander, called the "Butcher of Bosnia", on September 7.
'I WANTED HIM TO SUFFER LONGER'
Selma Jahic, a survivor of the Srebrenica Genocide, answered Serdar Korucu's questions on CNN Türk. Jahic said, "When I heard that this monster had died and that he was struggling with the disease in prison and that he was suffering while dying, I was very, very happy. But then my emotions were mixed. I wanted him to live a little longer, to suffer a little longer. I thought about all the mothers who lost their lives; mothers who lost their lives without finding even a single piece of their children's bones... Our family members did not die in peace. He did not have the right to die in peace like that."
Underlining that not all perpetrators were punished in the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Selma Jahic emphasized that Mladic was not the only perpetrator: "There was a huge mechanism that ensured that people were taken to the execution sites. A mechanism that dug mass graves and carried the corpses to these graves... Therefore, real justice was not provided. Some people were convicted of genocide. But genocide was committed against all Bosnian people in the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina."
'WE WERE TRYING TO SURVIVE'
Jahic said that Mladic never saw his actions as a crime, adding, "He believed that he was doing something good for the Serbian people." Selma Jahic also criticized Serbia's state ceremony decision: "Serbia and the Serbian government have so far rejected any narrative about their responsibility in the Srebrenica genocide. Until today, they said, 'We did nothing. We had nothing to do with the war crimes committed there.' They said that if anyone committed crimes, they acted on their own. Honoring a genocide criminal as a hero means: "We were also accomplices in this genocide. We also committed genocide. And yes, we are among the perpetrators."
Selma Jahic, born in Srebrenica, said that she was in the city with her mother, younger brother and other relatives during the attacks that lasted from 1992 to 1995, and explained the genocide they experienced: "I was seven years old when the city was captured by Serbian militants in 1995. Sometimes we fled to the villages, sometimes we returned to the city. We were constantly trying to find food and shelter and survive. Many of my relatives were killed. Some lost their lives in the bombardments, some died while trying to find food or save their children. And eventually, most of them were deported from Srebrenica, taken to execution sites and massacred. My mother, my brother and I were one of the first groups taken from Srebrenica, along with many women and children. They said to us, "Who wants to leave? You can leave this area. You are free." We believed them. Because we were completely exhausted from war and hunger. We just wanted peace and quiet. We thought maybe the war was over. That's why we trusted them. They put us on military trucks. And I remember they started separating men from women. We didn't know this would happen.
'THEY DID THE MOST SCARY THING THAT COULD BE DONE'
In front of us was an old couple about the age of my grandmother and grandfather. They pulled the man aside and said, "You're not going anywhere. You'll stay here." The man begged because his wife was sick. "Please let me go with my wife. She is not strong enough to reach the safe zone. She cannot get there," he said. They smiled at him and said, "Don't worry. We will find you in the river separating Bosnia and Serbia." Then they pulled the man aside and the woman continued with us. At that moment, I thought, "Oh my God, what will happen to my grandfather?" I thought. Because my grandmother wasn't strong enough to ride these trucks with us. Therefore they stayed one more day. There were very few men in our vehicles. They were chosen to avoid suspicion. That's all... Then we were taken to the city of Tuzla. We were placed in a refugee camp there. The next day people started telling terrible things about what happened in Srebrenica. Before, the world was told what a great leader Mladic was and how well he treated people. Because the cameras were on at that time. The massacre started when the cameras were turned off. We experienced something the world has never seen. My grandmother came to us the next day and said that they had taken my grandfather too. We never saw him again. They also took away my mentally disabled uncle and we never heard from him again. Many of my relatives and cousins were taken away in this way. However, we were told to trust them. We were in the area where the United Nations was located and we believed that they would not harm us and that we would be safe there. "In the end, they did the most terrible thing that could be done."
Jahic, who said that they were able to reach his grandfather's remains in 2007, stated that they experienced their second mourning in this process: "You lose that person for the second time. Before you receive the letter from the Red Cross, you inevitably create a false hope and an illusion in your mind. You think, "Maybe he survived. Maybe he can't communicate with us." You imagine every positive possibility that he survived. Then when you get that letter, everything falls apart. Because in that letter there were photographs of my grandfather's remains. And therefore we experienced the same hell again, for the second time. On the other hand, I cannot even imagine what it was like for Srebrenica mothers to find and bury another bone, another piece, perhaps a finger, belonging to their child every year. Because the remains were scattered in many mass graves. It is a terrible thing that we experience this again and again every year. An endless horror."
'THEY BELIEVE WE CONTAMINATE THEIR DNA'
Stating that Bosnian Muslims were called "Turks" during the genocide, Selma Jahic stated that this was based on the ideology of Serbian nationalists: "Calling us "Turks" has roots in Serbian mythology. In a sense, the idea of taking revenge on the Ottoman Empire still continues. This may seem extremely absurd to many people. Yes, it's ridiculous, but according to some nationalists, we polluted our blood by accepting Islam during the Ottoman Empire. They believe that we have contaminated their DNA by converting to Islam. That's why they called us "Turks" with hatred. They were using this as if we were "subhuman beings" rather than humans. The Serbian nationalist mentality of "You have polluted your blood with Islam" turned into sexual violence during the war. That's why they raped Bosnian women. In their terrible understanding, when they raped that woman, impregnated her, and made her give birth to this child, they would "cleanse" her and the child would be Serbian. "This is a truly disgusting ideology."
